What do I mean by post-service? Well, I don’t mean the post office or the often mediocre service one usually receives there. Over the past 100 years (well thousands really) we’ve progressed from a largely commodity based economy to a service based economy. At this point in the history of human business and communications we can now be a predominantly self servicing operation in many aspects. We have accounting software, and book keeping and tax software we can use to manage our financial activities, we have an assortment of other software applications to manage our HR and internal communications and to monitor our brand. And so with these tools, and many others, we foray into the jungle that is the free market (particularly the online market) and start hacking ourselves a path.

Much like the explorers who hacked, climbed and rowed their way through what was a wilderness just 300 to 400 years ago, a business entering the online market has a similar challenge to contend with. You don’t know what’s around the corner, if this river turns into a waterfall, who’s tribal territory you may be infringing on, or maybe what berries you can even eat! And so what did the explorers throughout history do? They hired guides who knew the terrain, who spoke the native languages, who could point out which berries to eat and which rivers to ride. This in effect parodies the post-service commodity, because these guides and their explorer counterparts needed trust and long term compatibility their transactions were often more than service based; they were relationship based.

So if a business is looking to strike it rich in the new world that is the internet, I think it’s important to see that the strategy for engagement and exploration in this jungle incorporates a relationship similar to the explorer model above. Online marketing, e-commerce, and your other web activities as a business are an ongoing exploration. The internet, much like a real jungle, is constantly growing and changing. It’s full of predators. There are fruits to be plucked and ones to avoid, paths to follow and ones to pass over, and while a lot can be learned from going in alone, those lessons can be expensive. Relationships between a business and someone whom they trust to help them navigate this realm are becoming the new online commodity.

This is why I think it’s important that we as businesses view this part of our operations in a long term context. We can’t just build a website, plug in some e-commerce tools and dust off our pants, content with a job well done. Because if this is a company’s approach to online presence and growth they quickly find that the vines and ferns cover them over as the forest canopy grows higher. We should recognize that the online world around us is always adapting, becoming more dense and colourful, with braiding rivers changing their course and leaves falling to the forest floor to decompose into the soil- like so many great website and app ideas whose concepts might have blossomed if only their programming or user interface matched their creators enthusiasm.  Businesses, unable to keep up with the pace of growth and change, also break from their branch and float to the floor in the constant birth, death and regeneration of creative potential and practical products we find online.

But they don’t have to.  A relationship with someone who understands the jungle and why you’re in it is a crucial part of any business operating online.

Forbes Magazine recently wrote an article called The Promise of E-commerce reflecting on how online sales have steadily grown, eight consecutive months in double digits in fact, while physical storefronts have suffered by comparison. This isn’t true for all storefronts in all cities around the world, Vancouver has one of the healthiest and vibrant foot traffic streets in North America, Robson Street. But by and large streets like Robson, one of the busiest foot traffic shopping street in Canada by volume, are Anomalies. And unless you’re a major chain, chances are you can’t afford the rent for these high foot traffic storefront spaces. But you can afford an eCommerce platform, trust me. For a fraction of a month’s rent on Robson, or Yonge, or Rodeo, you can tap into this double digit growth retail sector, and use the rest of your money to grow your business rather than sit and wait for window shoppers to gravitate through the door.

The misconception that custom software and eCommerce platforms are something only large companies can afforded is slowly evaporating as software as a service solutions for small and mid sized companies become more widely used. Though proprietary software from major corporations still makes up a huge territory in this ocean of software development, many innovative new companies have caught the wave of agile development over the past several years, and have utilized this new philosophy and approach with much success. Agile development is collaborative, employing ideas or problem solving from cross-functional teams who are able to create a more well rounded and intuitive perspective on the product they’re creating.  As opposed to the kind of programming that happened in silos, one big chunk at a time, it’s a far more flexible and quick approach to developing software. Thirdi has been on the crest of that wave since our inception, it’s a fun wave to ride.

As eCommerce continues to grow, in double digits, small businesses and medium sized businesses can’t afford to ignore its market potential. It’s important to remember that there is an eCommerce platform for every budget.

For questions on how to grow your business online contact the team at Thirdi.

I love being introduced to new companies, especially innovative ones with good and original ideas. There’s  something about start-ups and newer companies that are gaining momentum that makes me really excited. Just recently I posted about Lendingclub.com who may be the closest thing we’ve seen to a profit generating social media business model. I also looked at another company called InTouch, who are revolutionizing the fitness industry through a cloud based sales and marketing platform that supplements and supports human capital with digital sales and marketing activities that engages clients while  keeping management well appraised of all sales and marketing activities, in real time.  It’s been a good month, because on top of those first two impressive companies I was just made aware of another company with an innovative online service that I think might completely change e-commerce.

GoEyeball is an online shopping service that saves shoppers time and money by searching for any item as specified by the user based on a price threshold and other particulars. Shoppers make their own eyeballs on the site to find the products they want to keep an eye on, name the price they want to find it at (or a close approximation) and then the eyeball does the rest. Currently the technology is used most on major shopping sites that are compatible with the software but it is being further developed so that the scope and range of the eyeball will increase to include the entire internet; finding you the best price on earth for the product you want.  And you don’t have to do a thing, GoEyeball will e-mail you and alert you instantly when your eye has found the product you want for the price you want. Just in time for the festive season and right in the middle of swine flu season your customized eyeball can do your Christmas shopping for you, everything from kids toys to real estate listings.

I’m pretty stoked that I don’t have to risk  swine flu or debit card fraud on Robson Street now.

So much attention has been paid lately to protecting consumers online that many have begun to complain that we are beginning to stifle e-commerce with regulations. New European e-commerce regulations passed to assist online business on that continent have been criticized for  being counterproductive. Shocking isn’t it? Can you imagine a major government bureaucracy doing anything counterproductive to businesses? Recent internet legislation in the US put forth by John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, aims at bureaucratizing the entire internet within a federally mandated internet security office. To quote Rockefeller  and the Washington post: “People say this is a military or intelligence concern, but it’s a lot more than that,” Rockefeller, a former intelligence committee chairman, said in an interview. “It suddenly gets into the realm of traffic lights and rail networks and water and electricity.” So the internet has now become as essential as the roads, rails and wires we’ve built from coast to coast and the government intends to defend it as such with their full capabilities. But let’s step back for a moment and discuss consumer safety in the “real world” because the government has been largely unable to protect the consumer there as well. Though many are concerned about cyber- security and ecommerce safety , and rightfully so, there is a current outrage in Vancouver BC over a debit terminal fraud that has emptied the bank accounts of thousands of lower mainland residents.

The problem is widespread and consumers have been angered at the lack of transparency concerning the locations where cards were compromised. Unfortunately for those who have been scammed this is  the protocol for dealing with these kinds of bank card frauds. It’s considered the responsibility of the bank, not the government, to protect consumer’s who use the hardware that’s been compromised- but the criminal investigation relies on confidentiality.

Though the security of bank cards and their pin numbers have been the responsibility of the banks themselves, the Canadian government has taken the lead on  identity theft.  While banks maintain responsibility for cards and pins the government is responsible for those who use them. The passing of Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code means that it’s now a criminal offense to obtain and possess identity information with the intent to use the information deceptively, dishonestly or fraudulently in the commission of a crime. It is also a criminal offense to transfer or sell information to another person without considering the possible criminal uses of that information and to unlawfully possess or traffick in government-issued identity documents that contain another person’s information. These steps effectively neuter identity theft operations before they’re able to gain momentum and do some serious damage, or at least that’s the hope.

In finding a balance between the freedom of business and the paternalism of bureaucracy we can create the systems we need to allow for flexible and secure ecommerce. But judging by what we see going on in the physical realm we need to have a co-operative approach. Government and institutions can only do so much- we as consumers need to be vigilant and cautious. Scammers will continue to find new and creative ways to completely screw us over and the more we let them do it (by letting our guard down)  the easier it is for bureaucracies to come tilting at windmills, for better or worse, with legislation and regulation. Suffocating us, and the internet, with their love.

While “decompressing” in Ohio after years of slugging it out in Silicon Valley,  Simon Rothman (formerly of eBay) had an epiphany “E-commerce doesn’t seem to work for normal people” as he put it in a recent Business Week article. Although I find blanket statements that include the term “normal people”  to seem overgeneralizing it’s hard to argue that small-town America (or how about the red state people, or maybe country folks?) have a lot of stuff just sitting around that could be sold but they don’t trust computers. Computers were invented by big-city folk, (or heathens or sodomites…whatever we people that live in the big coastal cities are commonly referred to by small-town folk).  According to Rothman many people he had come in contact with (salt of the earth blue-collar people I have to assume)  felt that ecommerce was cumbersome, time consuming, and possibly putting people at risk of hacking, malware and viruses.  Hey wait a minute that’s what I think too and I’m a raging liberal west coast urbanite.  So he came up with a platform that would overcome these roadblocks and tap into this $3 billion market for used goods that he felt was out there-  introducing  Glyde.

Rothman has been working very quietly behind the scenes for the past year with some seed money and a simple but good idea. Glyde will charge 10% of the sale number with no upfront fees and $1.25 for custom mailing envelopes provided by the company.  Instead of operating on a buyer/seller honor system where sellers are rated for the quality of product or timeliness of shipping Glyde will employ comprehensive analytics to track sales and shipping activities. The company has also filed for numerous patents on features and processes; as the Bilski Supreme Court case continues in we’ll see if those can even be claimed in the near future.

Though Glyde might not be something new and daring like the original eCommerce platforms it’s worth commending them for reminding us that sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to make it better.  Making e-commerce easier and faster should definitely allow Glyde to tap into the less computerized portions of the population and probably take some of us more tech savvy consumers with them along the way.

And for the record, I would love it if we the collective software and internet marketing community could agree upon a standardize form of the word eCommerce (ecommerce? e-commerce? eCommerce?) let’s tackle this one at the next big trade show how about?

It’s interesting how lately there has been a little bit of a backlash against social media in the workplace and traditional media. Most especially if your workplace is on a football field, basketball court, hockey rink or baseball diamond. While the NFL has banned Twitter from being used within a certain time span on game days, the other leagues are hot on its heels with their own clamp downs. And it’s not just pro sports franchises that want their employees to keep their head in the game. (no pun intended) The majority of companies in the US ban social media in the workplace; including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Linkedin. (Seriously…that one was made specifically for business networking was it not?) This according to recent research from Robert Half Technology, the international IT staffing firm. The problem supposedly lies in businesses not seeing the profitability of social media. It is seen now by some as a distraction from the many tasks at hand instead of a tool to aid in connectivity. Or at the very least, employers are challenged by the new platforms and technologies, finding the utility of social media to be ambiguous. “How does this make me money?” The business owner will ask. To which the accountant will respond “It doesn’t appear to” but that’s a narrow way of looking at things. In fact a recent study done by Citibank shows that a minority but increasing number of small companies entering the social media sphere have found these platforms to be useful in generating business leads or revenue.

Small business have been timid in joining the party because of these traditional ways of looking at media, advertising and concerns about the valid role of social media in productivity and profit. But if social media didn’t generate profit then why did the American Federal Trade Commission roll out the first major piece of advertising legislation since the 1980s specifically to deal with issues related to companies using blogs and social media to market products? Advertising has adapted to the point where the old rules hardly apply to the new media and methods. And though social media and word of mouth can work for small business in Vancouver or elsewhere, it is the scalability factor that makes the tool so powerful for larger companies. Viral advertising is a great example. The FTC is continuing to work closely with the industry so it can better understand viral marketing and issues of legality. You can make a viral ad campaign for…well you can make it for free. And then you can send it out for…free. And it can reach millions and millions of people. Your overhead? Free. Your ROI on that piece of media if successful? About as good as it gets.

Viral campaigns are most powerful when they reaches millions, like grapeshot from a cannon. And it also works best when it includes a call to action that draws consumers into sites and stores; geographically dispersed and numerous like chains or franchises. They are also great if you generate ad revenue based e-commerce or by the number of unique visits to your content driven site. Mom and pop stores with a single location don’t benefit from social media grapeshot, they benefit from using it as a more focused and directed tool to engage their clientele and local market. So for the accountants that look at the numbers and say social media isn’t making money, just because the Facebook account isn’t attached to the cash register- they need to assess how it’s being used. This goes for both geographically dispersed companies and locally focused ones- because obviously it’s making money for a lot of other companies. It’s become such a powerful force in our world that it is being re-assesed by managers of companies, major sports leagues, our highest legal institutions and even entire countries as was the case of Facebook and the Canadian Privacy Commission. So unless a business owner or manager wants to exist in splendid isolation from the rest of the world, people such as myself suggest they work with the forces of nature rather than against them. If a business is anti-social media, they are being anti-social-period. And we all know how successful anti-social people are in the marketplace.

One of the beautiful things about shopping online is that geography becomes largely irrelevant- until you ask for something to be shipped to your home or business of course. No longer limited to what’s in our neighbourhood or our city, or the big mall down the street, we peruse with ease competitively designed T-shirts from Threadless (one of my very favorite eCommerce sites) a site where independently designed T-shirts are released in limited quantities fresh every month! And some seriously great graphics and hilarious creative content at that. Based out of Chicago this company ships all over. It’s relatively small and independent, but it can operate on a global level because of this internet thing we’re using right now, you and I.

With all the talk of WalMart, Lululemon, and other major retailers launching their new eCommerce platforms we sometimes overlook that it has also radically altered the playing field for smaller companies too. Here are some good examples of companies that capitalized on eCommerce and their web presence for local markets:

Frogbox, a startup from Vancouver BC offers an array of convenient, durable and reusable eco-friendly plastic containers for moving. They drop them off at your soon-to-be old place and pick them up at the new one when you’re done. No more breaking down and taping up flimsy cardboard boxes with the faint smell of Chinese grocers, stale alcohol or industrial paint. Their website is easy to navigate and prominently displays their eCommerce options for potential consumers on the mainpage - complete with a discount for ordering online. While the service is local to both Greater Vancouver and Seattle, they’ve utilized their site effectively being both a sponsored site on Google and ranking on the first page for “moving,Vancouver, boxes” as well as “Vancouver, boxes”.  Good work Frogbox, smart work.

Lululemon, while not a small company by any stretch (no pun intended) has engaged their local clientele through their site quite well. The key is CONTENT. Content that your clientele are interested in, can use, find valuable – not just what the staff are having for lunch that day. (Allthough once in a while something like that might be of curiousity to your clientele.) And one of the strengths of Lululemon’s content is diversity. Sometimes diversity can be a problem, sometimes your content can be too stretched out and broad. But it works in Lululemon’s favour to have such diverse topics as fitness trends, wanderlust, and design because their brand is as much about clothing as it is about lifestyle, community, and a healthy philosophy. So as long as they engage their clients with themes consistant with their overall lifestyle and philosophy, they have some room to work with.

Nanny In Seattle (www.nannyinseattle.com) is another great e-commerce site with a local aim. Firstly it’s a fantastic URL – clear and to the point, but the site is also laid out very simply and the page is clean and easy to navigate. It’s comprehensive and includes content; though not a whole lot.  I’d like to see them ad a blog or a user’s testamonial page for example, but their Nanny 101 tab and Choosing Seattle Nannies tab offer some very useful tips. It’s an excellent example of eCommerce being used to generate local specific business. Now they need maximize an SEO strategy to help them rank better. Seattlenanny.com ranks first on a Google search but they began nearly 15 years ago and have extensive connections to other services; receiving accolades along the way. Often times the way we type something into a search engine will also generate very different results; this is something to consider when choosing a URL, particularly if you have a regional or local focus. The strengths and weakenesses of “Nanny In Seattle” vs “Seattle Nanny” semantically could be a post all to its own; but we’ll save that for another time. For a strictly online eCommerce service I see potential in nannyinseattle.com and I think with some solid SEO and word of mouth support (CONTENT) they’ll be yet another eCommerce success story.

So if you own a local business in Vancouver, Seattle or any other city for that matter, don’t think that eCommerce is for big national and international players only. You can benefit from finding ways to connect to your local consumers and to build a larger client base through simple and strategic uses of your website.  Just like these companies above.

Today’s blog is all about marketing. Specifically the marketing of services, because many of the things we buy online, software platforms, shopping carts, ecommerce solutions, site management, server management, are often more services than products. Marketing is that area where psychology, geography, economics and business all collide in your head. The trick is whether or not the consumer sees value in that mashed up chimera and chooses to buy in. The A-Team sums marketing up for me and so I’ve chosen them to illustrate my point. Everytime I saw the intro to the A-team I understood implicitly the value of their unique service. And though I had problems and it seemed no one could help, I tried to find the A-team but couldn’t. Their marketing message and brand was nearly perfect, but when one link is missing (finding the service) the whole chain is weakened. This is a short list of some tried and true basic values one can keep in mind when deciding how to market your service or services.

1. Be clear. Don’t mix you message. Even though you may in fact have several talents (like the members of the A-team) and offer several services, find a way to sum it up and express it as simply as possible. And do it in a way that instantly invokes value to the consumer. AKA the brand. The brand is the banner under which your services exist and it sums them up for you. Watch the A-team intro again to see what I mean.

2. Know your consumer. You can’t swing wildly in the dark or go wandering into a crowd singing the praises of your wares. This is where the geography aspect comes into play. More and more we are seeing location based social media apps developed and received with accolades. This is because we don’t live our entire lives online. We are people in a physical world who occasionally need to go for a beer or sushi, buy a new tennis racket (the one with the right feel) or meet someone for coffee nearby. And while it may seem simple and elementary to mention this, being able to create consumer gravity based on your proximity to potential clients is still extremely important. While e-commerce has increased and will continue to, the internet at large still facilitates real world transactions. Know where your customers are and make sure they know where you are! This unfortunately is where the A-team failed me in my customer experience.

3. Create and instill perceived value! If you’re a service provider your customer will often be purchasing your service, or committing to a contract for your services before they have received full terms. This means they’re basically paying up front- and as economic theory is concerned we consistently display time preference when considering purchases. It is crucial to ingrain in your marketing message the value of your service in real-world terms. What makes you and your service special? What makes it the best? Why will it make life and business easier for them? Though it might be obvious to you it might not be to potential customers. The theory of comparative advantage says that in every situation you will have some advantage in regards to your relationship with competitors and partners. Find yours and utilize it! Just like the A-team did.

Well that concludes our tutorial for today. For more ideas send us an e-mail, we’d love to chat.

Rhode Island doesn’t get a lot of press. It’s right up there with Delaware and South Dakota on the where-the-hell-is-that list. But in a move destined to get them some much-needed attention, the government of Rhode Island decided to take on Amazon, and other web retailers, over the issue of sales tax. Namely, the issue that online retailers never actually collect any tax, or, even worse, ever deliver any of said sales tax into the state coffers. So Rhode Island, and a number of other states, decided to fight back. They introduced legislation that, if passed, will make it law that online retailers will have to collect sales tax if that retailer operates any affiliates (i.e. small businesses that make some of their money by referring customers to Amazon, etc.) within the state.

According to an article posted today on AOL news, Amazon immediately fired back….by closing down all affiliate operations in any of the battleground states. What that means is a whole bunch of small businesses in the affected states suddenly losing a big source of their revenue. And, ironically, that could mean a loss of some tax base for those state governments, as those small businesses shut down or move to a friendlier state.

So far, the governments of New York, Hawaii and North Carolina have joined Rhode Island in introducing similar legislation. And other online retailers, like Overstock, have followed Amazon’s lead by suspending all connections with any affiliates, or at least threatening to, in those four states. From the look of it, this is only the first attack and counter-attack in what is likely to be another protracted battle over the contentious issue of online retailers and sales tax. But, even if nothing has been solved so far, at least it gets people talking about Rhode Island.

Many companies spend millions and millions of dollars establishing their brand and creating name recognition for their registered trademarks. And most companies, but especially those who engage in significant ecommerce, make a lot of their money by people finding them via search engines. Which is why a lot of companies are seriously pissed off at the way Google runs their very popular AdWords program.

The AdWords program allows advertisers to buy terms or keywords on Google. So if anyone does a search for that term or keyword, the advertiser will show up in as “Sponsored Links” on the search return page. Where that gets a little dodgy is that Google allows any advertiser to purchase any term or keyword…even terms that are registered trademarks of, say, the advertiser’s competitor. In fact, not only does Google allow this to happen, they encourage it. When an advertiser is using the AdWords program to choose the keywords they want to purchase, Google’s system actually recommends popular keywords, often including competitor’s trademarks.

There have been a number of lawsuits launched against Google for allowing this seeming trademark infingement. But so far, none have been successful. The pro-Google rulings have focussed on the idea that it’s only trademark infringement if the infringement is a “use in commerce”. In the old days, that meant, say, using a competitor’s name on your own packaging, for instance. But in the online world, where does commerce begin? If you’re selling a product online, does the ecommerce process begin on a Google search returns page? As of right now, the law says, no. And so Google won’t likely change its AdWord program, at least for now.